Hardware Retailing The Industry's Source for Insights and Information
Amazon and Home Depot will share a multistory warehouse in Seattle in an effort for both companies to enhance delivery times, The Wall Street Journal reports.
The online retailer signed a lease for a three-story facility, reportedly the first of its kind in the country. Delivery trucks will be able to drive to each floor using ramps, according to the Journal. Amazon will occupy 500,000 square feet and Home Depot will take up 100,000 square feet of the same warehouse.
According to the Journal, a Home Depot spokesperson says the company leased the warehouse space in an effort to enhance delivery and “reach 90 percent of its shopppers with same-day and next-day delivery.”
The owner of the building the companies leased says in the article that vertical warehouses offer storage space that companies often can’t find in cities.
“You have to go vertical because you can’t find a 50-acre space in the middle of a city close to the customer,” says Hamid Moghadam, chief executive of Prologis in the article. Prologis developed and owns the facility.
According to the article, online retailers in other urban areas, such as New York City, are seeking more than 9 million square feet of warehouse space to serve city dwellers.
In the independent home improvement sector, wholesalers are continuously prioritizing supply chain enhancements and distribution expansion projects.
- Orgill recently announced a new distribution center in upstate New York.
- In the spring, Ace Hardware Corp. announced plans to expand its Texas distribution center and launched an e-commerce delivery service.
- Do it Best has made significant investments in its supply chain and transportation management systems.
- True Value is in the third year of its five-year supply chain optimization program and is constructing a new distribution center in Hanover Township, Pennsylvania.
